Ciara Harris Email & Phone Number

Two years ago, I made the switch from English Literature to Mechanical Engineering, and it is the best decision I have ever made. Ever since I was a child, my two greatest passions in life have been to help and to learn. While I do still love English, and think effective communication is a very important skill, Engineering has opened my eyes to a whole new way of seeing the world and what I can do to make it an easier place to live.This past summer I took my first Engineering-based internship, somewhat on a whim, working with renewable energy solutions to reduce load, and therefore cost, on a large campus. It was here that I fell in love with solar energy. This internship with renewable energy combined my two greatest passions in a way that inspired me to look beyond what I saw at work, research further, and eventually take on a minor in Renewable Energy Assessment. I wanted to understand how renewable energy solutions work, what can optimize their performance, as well as what impacts and implications renewable energy sources, such as solar, can have on the people in the communities in which they are implemented, the environment immediately surrounding the solution, and the global environment as a whole.I never expected my two greatest passions to manifest themselves in a single career goal, but my internship this past summer fulfilled professional desires that I had yet to even realize I possessed and I came to an understanding within myself that I would make this my third greatest passion. I have learned so much about renewable energy, but I still want and intend to learn so much more.